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Lot 553
A Corolle Brooch, by Lea Stein, circa 1980, the three dimensional laminated celluloid brooch depicting a lady`s face, in brown and gold hues, measures 4.6cm by 6.4cm and An Attila Brooch, by Lea Stein, circa 1990, the three dimensional laminated celluloid brooch depicting a standing cat, in purple, measures 4.6cm by 10.4cm (2). Lea Stein was born in Paris in 1931. She married Fernand Steinberger in the early 1950`s and he perfected a technique for laminated celluloid acetate, known as rhodoid, sometimes interspersed with textiles, lace or metal. This is the material Lea Stein uses to make her whimsical jewellery. It is thought she began producing jewellery in the late 1960`s until 1981, and after a break came back to it in 1988 on a reduced scale, producing only a couple of designs each year.
Lot 190
Collection 16x World Heavyweight Boxing Figures - Rare and complete set of all 16 World Heavyweight boxing champion figures from John L Sullivan (1882) to Rocky Marciano (1956) each figure is mounted on a naturalistic base, signed and dated by the artist c/w plinth and brass engraved plaque overall approx height 11.5" max - the figures were retailed over a period of 3/4 years and on completing the full set one automatically received a free figure of Rocky Marciano. The set was produced by Endurance Ltd "Art of Sport" series and ltd to 1500 figures (with each mould being destroyed) crafted by English sculptor Daniel Lovatt and hand painted by Artists of either Holland Studio Craft or Cloudside Studios of Stoke on Trent. In view of the time scale to acquire the collection it`s rare to find a complete collection plus the Marciano Figure. These are the original figures and are not to be mistaken for similar smaller figures produced in the USA in the late 1990s - Boxers incl. Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Burns, Johnson, Willard, Dempsey, Tunney, Schmeling, Sharkey, Carnera, Baer, Braddock, Louis, and Rocky Marciano.
Lot 228
* LEVITAN, ISAAK 1860-1900 Castle, Version of Castle. Twilight. 1898 signed Oil on card, 17.5 by 22 cm. Provenance: Important private collection, USA. Authenticity has been confirmed by Vladimir Petrov. The unique easel painting Castle is a study for one of the artist’s last major works, The Castle. Twilight, which is currently to be found in the collection of the Lvov State Picture Gallery. Its small “intimate” format has been dictated by the creative credo of the artist, who had a fundamental lack of patience for large scale studies: “…never chase after size when it comes to studies”, he wrote. “In a large study there are more lies, whereas in a small one there are very few indeed, and if you genuinely, seriously feel what you have seen when you were working on the study, the painting itself will also convey a true and complete impression of what has been seen.” In all probability, Levitan, who set high standards for himself, was perfectly content with the composition and colour of Castle. In any case, the artist not only transferred it to a larger canvas without any changes, but also, shortly after the work had been completed, presented Castle. Twilight at the First International Exhibition of the journal Mir iskusstva (The World of Art) for which only the best, “agreed-upon” canvases were carefully selected. This work, which was shown to the public for the first time in 1899, immediately attracted attention and won such plaudits that two years later the organisers of posthumous Levitan exhibition in Moscow decided to include The Castle. Twilight once again. Twilight as a topic suggestive of the end of life purturbed Levitan greatly at the turn of the century. Reflections on the dwindling of life, the implacability of fate and yearning for the beauty of the world which he was about to leave for good – all this was embodied in his works The Last Rays of the Sun (1899, the State Tretyakov Gallery), A Moonlit Night in the Country (1897, the State Russian Museum), Twilight. The Haystacks (1899, the State Tretyakov Gallery), Twilight. The Moon (1899, the State Russian Museum) and Twilight (1900, the State Tretyakov Gallery), many of which have been recognised as genuine masterpieces of Russian painting. They are joined by The Castle. Twilight, which was painted in the summer of 1898 on the estate of Sergei Timofeevich Morozov, which was known as Uspenskoye. The brother of the renowned patron Savva Morozov, Sergei Timofeevich was, according to the recollections of those who knew him, not as expansive as his brother, more refined in his perception, reserved, and loved nature and art. Throughout his life he was a devoted admirer of Levitan, from whom he had taken painting lessons and whom he would from time to time accompany when he was making studies. Sergei Timofeevich created a magnificent art studio in a wing of his Moscow home on Trekhsvyatitelskiy Lane, which became Levitan’s constant refuge during the last eight years of his life. Levitan also made frequent and extended visits to Uspenskoye, where the local scenery inspired him. In the summer of 1897 he painted On the River Moskva there, and, later, most likely in the following year, he created a series of studies which were similar to the present work in terms of their colours, composition, and mood. At Levitan’s invitation, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov made a visit to Uspenskoye on 16 June, 1897. However, Morozov’s castle and the host himself made an unfavourable impression upon the writer, which Chekhov described in characteristically acerbic style: “The other day I was on the estate of the millionaire Morozov. His house is like the Vatican, with lackeys in piqué waistcoats with gold embroidery on the stomach, tasteless furniture, disgusting wine, and a host with a completely expressionless face. I fled”. When Morozov bought the Uspenskoye estate, which was situated along what is now known as the Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway, it was already in its final form. During the time of P.M. Apraksin, the baroque church of Uspeniye Bogoroditsy had already been erected, giving its name to the entire village. Between 1881 and 1884, the architect Pyotr Boitsov built a two-storey brick house for the former owner, Prince B.V. Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskiy, in the “English style” in the form of a “gothic castle” with corresponding internal decoration. In the intentionally heavy and almost coarse decorative elements characteristic of the Victorian neo-gothic style – flanking towers, crucifixes, pointed arches, and other gothic features – it is already possible to discern the elusive asymmetrical compositional harmony that would subsequently evolve into dazzling modernism. It takes one a moment or two to make out the vertiginous roof of the “castle” behind the ancient trees and the path depicted by Levitan that has also grown over. However, on the whole, the appearance of the country estate has not greatly changed. The landscaped park has also been preserved, consisting of a mixture of species of tree that descend towards the Moskva river from the main house situated on the high bank. For Levitan, the last years of his life were a period of intense artistic search. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, impressionism and modernism made an appearance in Russian art. In these years the master’s style becomes more delicate and refined. In a sense, it heralded the work of the Symbolists and the Blue Rose movement. A Moonlit Night. The High Road, Twilight. The Moon, Twilight. The Moon and Twilight. The Haystacks were executed in this style. “No one has achieved the astonishing simplicity and clarity of motifs that Levitan has achieved in recent times, and I do not know whether anyone will achieve it after him”, Chekhov wrote about these works. It is quite obvious that Castle also belongs to these works of the turn of the century. It contains features of both impressionism and modernism (in the style of painting, primarily in the presentation of the foreground, and in the decorative nature of the colours employed). Cold dark green and greyish-blue shades which dominate the palette have been mixed by the artist into a multitude of different hues. The sky and clouds in the background have been executed with delicate, sweeping strokes, and small pinkish red touches have also been introduced. Random application of brush strokes creates the impression of movement, of clouds sailing with the wind. In portraying the house with its outlines melting into the violet gloom, fading away like a ghost in the blue grey night-time mist, which produces the impression of radiating a quiet light, the artist, using apparently simple motifs, has saturated the principal colour planes with a multitude of vibrant, living and breathing hues and achieved an unprecedented level of expression of meditative oneness with “something divine with which everything is filled”, approaching the limits of the possibilities of transference of universal poetic experiences onto canvas in a realistic landscape.
Lot 532
* § TSELKOV, OLEG B. 1934 Smoker signed, titled in Cyrillic and dated 1969 on the reverse Oil on canvas, laid on panel, 100 by 152.5 cm. Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner. Private collection, USA. Authenticity has been confirmed by the artist. Literature: Oleg Tselkov, Le Grandi Monographie, Turin, Fabbri Editori, 1988, p. 67, illustrated. Roger Pierre Turine, Oleg Tselkov, Bonfi, Moscow, 2002, p. 33, illustrated. Related literature: For similar works, see Roger Pierre Turine, Oleg Tselkov, Bonfi, Moscow, 2002. The image of the “pipe smoker” became one of the most important in Tselkov’s creative oeuvre during the second half of the 1960s. Evolving from the still life of 1964, in which a grey, large-toothed face, two long smoking pipes and a burning candle form the traditional vanitas composition, evocative of the “nature morte” of African totems and of ancient Latin American art, to the self portrait of 1969, and the suite which is made up of several impressive compositions of the same name, the image of “the smoker” grows, not only in relation to scale, but also in terms of meaning. This represents one of the allusions, which can occasionally be found in Tselkov’s works, to classical museum art - “the smokers”, a popular subject for painters, beginning with the Dutch and Flemish school of the 17th century, and continuing up to the time of Cezanne and Gris that became the darlings of the 20th century. Yet, Tselkov’s smoking monsters are merely a fragment of a classical painting, the spatial and compositional structure of which, containing references to well known iconographic motifs and traditional subjects, is merely a trick, a theatrical effect, designed to emphasise the alien nature of Tselkov’s world. Before us we do not see real people, whether in the form of a self-portrait of the artist or a canvas presented at the auction, but a world of simulacrums, in which genuine existence is wholly impossible. There is, therefore, no visible distinction between the genuine and the surrogate, nor is there any real difference between the mask and the face. The large toothed and toothless “Tselkov mugs”, which have been painted in the traditional palette of various shades of red, apathetically and, for no apparent reason, inhale and exhale clouds of grey and violet smoke. This smoke has poisoned everything that surrounds them: the yellow featureless towns and the spatial dimensions of life, squeezed into a frame and suspended by a nail. At the same time, Tselkov’s works contain no hint of the pathos of a Soviet poster calling for the battle for a better world; rather, what is at issue here is the metaphysical death of modern man and his urban world, in which, to use the words of the artist himself, no trace of “the face of god” remains. A student of the legendary theatre designer Nikolai Akimov, from his early days Tselkov was fascinated by experimenting with the “Jack of Diamonds” style of painting. However, the artist’s present-day fame has come about thanks to his so called “ugly mugs”: his bright, almost surrealistic canvases depicting round-headed creatures, which resemble humans with flabby bodies, blank eyes and large, glossy mask-like faces. Painted in bright, sparkling colours, usually against a black background, these “poster-like” garish images became a popular symbol in the West, as early as the 1970s, of the Soviet artistic underground: a caricature, in a sense, of Homo Soveticus. Tselkov himself stated that “I painted a portrait, so to speak; not a portrait of any individual subject, but, rather, a universal portrait of every human being, synthesised into one face, and one which is horribly familiar… This face is the face of modern humanity as a whole. I did not set myself the task of ‘ripping off the mask’: rather, I saw neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’, but something which was more real, more than skin-deep. And it is what we all are under the skin that brings all of us closer together. I cannot make any specific accusations against any particular person, but I am making more than a specific accusation against the large numbers of people who degrade one another, torment one another, and do away with one another. I am entitled to make such charges in relation to the past, the present and the future …” Tselkov was forced to leave for the West in 1977, where his work was compared to that of Fernand Leger, Francis Bacon and Fernando Botero, and occasionally to the later work of Kazimir Malevitch. As a result of Dovlatov’s famous story, the artist himself became a semi-mythical hero of underground art. Since that time, Tselkov’s works have found their way into museum collections on both sides of the Atlantic; as well as into public and private collections in Russia, the United States, France and Japan. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held in the Russian Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery, and the value of the artist’s works has risen in proportion to the increasing size of the paintings, which between the 1980s and 1990s, reached truly gigantic, mural-like dimensions.
Lot 59
SIR JOHN LAVERY R.A., R.S.A., R.H.A., H.R.O.I., L.L.B (IRISH 1856-1941), HALF LENGTH PORTRAIT OF BETTY, Signed, inscribed verso `To Betty with `The President`s` compliments and good wishes`, S.Cromwell Rd, Sept. 1910, oil on canvas, 60cm x 41cm (23.5in x 16in). Exhibited:London, Goupil Gallery, Oil Paintings by John Lavery RSA, RHA, 1908, no 10 (?) as Betty. Note:Lavery would often begin a portrait by working on a small scale - experimenting with poses and colour schemes. On occasions he also produced a swift head study to familiarize himself with a sitter`s features. Long experience had taught him to act quickly if he wished to capture the essence of a personality. In an age when high aesthetic value was placed upon the fleeting glimpse, he was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sargent, Blanche and Boldini, the masters of what Sickert dubbed `wriggle and chiffon` painting. There is however, no coy `come hither` posturing in the present study of a woman who holds the painter`s eye with calm concentration. Delicate modelling of the eyes and mouth is complemented by staccato notation of the sitter`s dress and lace collar. Unfailingly generous, Lavery would frequently present his sketches to friends, clients and sitters, often inscribed on the reverse with personal dedications, as mementoes of what were sometimes chaotic experiences. The painter`s busy work room, if RB Cunninghame Graham is to be believed, was sometimes filled with animated chatter `… scents, noise, confusion …` as dealers, framers, friends and fellow artists came and went. With his model posed on a dais, or `throne`, Lavery practiced his craft oblivious to the throng. In the present case, both the identity of the sitter and the meaning of the inscription remain obscure. One other portrait of this particular model is known, primarily from Walter Shaw Sparrow`s monograph on the painter. Up to this point, it has been assumed that this picture, Betty - A Portrait Study, was that shown at the Goupil Gallery in 1908. However with the appearance of the newly discovered Betty, this must now be questioned. An extensive search of the portraits of the period has yet to tell us with certainty who she was. It is possible that she too was a painter - Betty Fagan, an artist who exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters of which Lavery was a prominent member. In May 1910 he had hosted the society`s council meeting in his studio at 5 Cromwell Place, when JJ Shannon was voted in as its new president. It is possible that, despite his reluctance, Betty Fagan had been campaigning on Lavery`s behalf. He was currently the subject of a major retrospective at the 1910 Venice Biennale and had been collecting international honours for a number of years and since 1902, a campaign had been waged in the press to secure his admission to the Royal Academy. Although he was not immune to flattery, it is unlikely that a presidency would have appealed to him at this point. In 1910, Lavery`s reputation abroad was greater than that at home. Prominent sitters` commissioned portraits were clearly named and accounted for in exhibition reviews. Models and friends, `Mary`, `Idonea`, `Phyllis` and in this instance, `Betty`, are often only identified by a single Christian name. Dropping into the studio they were seized from the melée, placed on the `throne` and painted. We are grateful to Dr Kenneth MConkey for his help in the preparation of this entry.
Lot 365
Philip Wickstead (died circa 1790) A portrait of the family of James Henry of Jamaica (1732-1787) and his wife Elizabeth née Jones their six children James John William Edward Elizabeth and Josiah their maternal grandmother Catherine Jones and their tutor All full length seated in an interior a view of their estate called Southfield in St Ann’s Bay Jamaica beyond Oil on canvas in the original 18th Century Jamaican frame 123 x 99cm; 44½ x 39in This impressive family group is undoubtedly one of the most elaborate works that Wickstead produced in his career and certainly one of only a few on this scale to have survived from his time in Jamaica. He was there for 17 years and unfortunately much of his work from this time was destroyed in the great hurricane of 1780. It has been in the collection of the Henry family and their descendants since it was painted. Wickstead trained under Zoffany however his work is closer in style to that of Arthur Devis who also specialised in the conversation piece and who often depicted similar slim elegant sitters. He went out to Jamaica in 1773 with the landscape painter George Robertson under the patronage of William Beckford of Somerley who owned large sugar plantations in Westmoreland Parish. He stayed in Jamaica for the rest of his life and in the 1780’s after a failed attempt at being a planter he took to drink and died around 1790. The Henry’s were Lowland Scots who became prosperous merchants. After the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745/6 James Henry a surgeon and physician by training depicted on the right of the picture set out for the New World. He is recorded as living in Jamaica by 1767. He married the daughter of a wealthy widow and he accumulated considerable wealth. His eldest son James Henry shown seated at the left hand end of the table was a Captain in the St. Ann’s Militia Regiment at the time of his father’s death in 1787. He was the only one of the four brothers to marry and produce heirs and it is through his line that the picture has been passed down through the generations. Provenance: James Henry (1732-1787) James Henry (1765-1807) James Henry (1802-1877) James Henry (1836-1916) Elsie Beatrice Sharp neé Henry 1879-1952) Basil Telford Sharp (1917-1988) who gave it to the present owner a direct descendant of the Henry family ++In good condition
Lot 378
An interesting map of Basra City and surrounding area as used on the ground during the assault on Basra in April 2003 by Corporal J. S. Cooke, M.C., Irish Guards, later Parachute Regiment, scale 1:15,000, marked Secret, produced by Engr. Int. Geo. Cell HQ 1 (UK) Armoured Division, annotated by hand with numerous positions and showing such things as Baath H.Q., Al Basrah Prison, Fedayeen, etc., contained within an oak glazed frame, 75cm by 68cm, also contained within the frame is a colour photograph of Corporal Cookes platoon, together with three cloth badges as worn by him in Iraq, good condition £300-500 Sold with a five-page printed account written by Cooke and including a photograph of him in uniform, detailing his time in Iraq and giving detail of the actions that took place at a number of the locations identified on the map. Corporal J. S. Cooke served with the Irish Guards in Iraq who were the first regiment to cross the bridge into Basra City and was in the second tank on the assault of the university complex. He subsequently went on to serve with The Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan where he was awarded a Military Cross for rescuing a civilian interpreter who had been wounded in a Taliban ambush.
Lot 385
The original grant of the squadron badge for No. 144 Bomber Squadron, hand-illuminated badge and motto, as painted by an artist of the College of Arms, dated March 1938, and signed by the Chester Herald and Inspector of Royal Air Force Badges, J. Heaton-Armstrong, and H.M. King George VI, mounted on card, in excellent condition £100-150 No. 144 Squadron was formed at Port Said, Egypt in March 1918 and went into action with D.H. 9s in support of the Palestine operations that August, carrying out several important missions in support of T. E. Lawrences Arab Northern Army - the Squadrons badge depicting a Boars head in front of a waning moon was chosen to commemorate its part in this theatre of war and the final defeat of the Turkish Armies. It was disbanded in February 1919. Reformed at Bicester in January 1937, No. 144 was equipped with Hampdens at the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, carrying out its first operational patrols in the same month - on the 29th, a section of five aircraft under Wing Commander J. C. Cunningham failed to return from a mission to the Heligoland Bight. By early 1940 the Squadron was engaged on regular Bomber Command sorties, sharing in the first large scale attack against the German mainland with a strike against the exits of Munchen-Gladbach, and continued to be employed in a similar capacity until transferring to Coastal Command in April 1942. Later that year, No. 144 moved to North Russia in support of Arctic convoys, leaving behind its aircraft for the Russians in October. Re-mustered in Scotland, the Squadron next operated out of Leuchars on anti-submarine and shipping missions, prior to being re-equipped with Beaufighters for service in North Africa. Back in the U.K. a few months later, No. 144 went on to cover the west flank of the Normandy landings in June 1944, and thence moved to Lincolnshire to carry out attacks on enemy convoys off the Dutch coast, followed by similar duties against targets off the Norwegian coast on returning to Scotland. Finally, in early 1945, the Squadron became an anti-flak unit, being disbanded that May. Briefly reformed in the 1950s, No. 144 was again disbanded in 1963.
Lot 627
A particularly fine Second World War D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Chief Engine Room Artificer S. J. L. Evans, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his gallant deeds in Unshaken of the famous ôFighting Tenthö: in addition to sinking an impressive array of enemy shipping, Unshaken several times embarked Major ôAppleö Appleyards S.A.S. ôSmall-Scale Raiding Forceö and captured the Italian submarine Menotti, Evans skipper being handed a unique receipt from his Flotilla C.O. on bringing the latter prize into Grand Harbour Valetta on 11 September 1943 - Received from Lieutenant J. Whitton, R.N., one Italian submarine named Menotti and sixty-one crew Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (C.E.R.A. S. J. L. Evans, PM/X. 46521); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (MX. 46521 S. J. L. Evans, C.E.R.A., H.M.S. Unshaken), mounted as worn, together with a set of related miniature dress medals, the first and last polished, thus generally nearly very fine or better (14) £1800-2200 D.S.M. London Gazette 18 April 1944: For gallantry, skill and devotion to duty in successful patrols in H.M. submarines. The original recommendation states: During 12 Mediterranean patrols Unshaken has sunk by torpedo one destroyer, three merchantmen and two schooners. By gun action, one schooner destroyed, one 4,000-ton merchantman damaged and a suspension bridge on the Tunisian coast shelled. Other incidents include three special operations with military personnel on Pantellaria, the machine-gunning of German troops evacuating from Castia, and enforcing the surrender of the Italian submarine Menotti, deliberately contravening the armistice regulations. For outstanding efficiency and devotion to duty as C.E.R.A. in charge of the Engine Room Department of Unshaken during the above patrols and showing coolness and determination under difficult conditions. Samuel Joseph Lindop Evans, a native of Weymouth, Dorset, was decorated for his gallant deeds in Unshaken during successful war patrols in the Mediterranean in the period March to September 1943. The Unshaken arrived at the Fighting Tenths base at Lazaretto, Malta in March 1943, in the middle of a ôSpriteö alert, intelligence having reported the high risk of an Italian human-torpedo attack, but was quickly out on patrol. The definitive history of the Flotilla, The Fighting Tenth, by John Wingate, D.S.C., takes up the story: Unshaken, being the newcomer, sailed for her first patrol to the ostensibly quieter area east of Tunisia ... First she shelled a schooner hauled up on a beach, but was warned off by spirited action from shore batteries. Then off Sousse on 8 April, Jack Whitton sank the 1,245-ton Foggia with one of his three torpedoes. Lingering off Kelibia in the hope of catching a reported convoy, Unshaken continued southwards to beat up an important road bridge until shore batteries again forced her to desist. In common with other submarines of the Fighting Tenth, Unshakens operational agenda extended to clandestine operations, Wingate describing a series of intelligence gathering patrols in the lead-up to operations ôHuskyö, Major J. G. ôAppleö Appleyard, D.S.O., M.C.* and fellow members of 2nd S.A.S. being embarked: Then on the 18th [May 1943], Appleyard and his No. 1 Small-Scale Raiding Force sailed in Unshaken (Lieutenant Whitton) to make a periscope observation of the islands beaches where assault troops could be landed. The recce proving satisfactory, on 20 May Unshaken turned for home. Halfway back to Malta she was met by an M.T.B. with an aerial escort which Jack Whitton describes as an impressive and lively umbrella of three Spitfires, each clearing the periscope standards by inches. The M.T.B. had come to collect Appleyard, to save time. He was safely transferred and soon disappeared with his escort. Unshaken returned to Lazaretto the following day. The second attempt at the snatch job began on the 24th, when Unshaken again sailed with the S.A.S. party. The conditions being good, the inflatable dinghies paddled off into the darkness. After scaling the vertical and crumbling cliff, they eventually pounced on a sentry whose terrified yells alerted the defenders. Reinforcements were immediately on the spot, a burst of automatic fire killing Sergeant Herstall, a policeman from Bristol. The raiders escaped down the cliff by sliding down it from top to bottom. Whitton and Unshaken were waiting for them and they reached Lazaretto on 30 May. And of operations in June, Wingate continues: Immediately to the south of Unison was Unshaken (Lieutenant Jack Whitton), released from her expeditions with Major Appleyard and now patrolling off Syracuse and Augusta. Close inshore, on the afternoon of 22 June, she hit a laden schooner, Giovanni G. (69 tons), with two torpedoes at a range of 2,400 yards. The schooner disintegrated. This was a historic moment. Small though she was, this schooner earned a place in the history of the Fighting Tenth, for she had been sunk by the one thousandth torpedo to have been fired in action by a U-class submarine of the Tenth Flotilla. Capture of the Italian submarine ôMenottiö Having then had two close encounters with enemy submarines, one of which tailed Unshaken back to Malta in mid-July, but was attacked by the Polish submarine Dzik, thereby saving her from almost certain destruction, and sunk the naval transport Asmara,Unshaken achieved her greatest success - the capture of the Italian submarine Menotti on 9 September 1943, at the time of Italys capitulation. Wingate continues: On the morning of 9 September she [Unshaken] was making her way south around the heel of Italy when the hydrophone operator reported: High Speed revs. Suspecting an enemy submarine, Whitton ordered Diving Stations. The problem was whether this was a German U-boat or an Italian one. Through the periscope it was hard to tell: the enemy submarine was hull-down, the conning tower glinting in the bright morning sun. Whitton takes up the tale: At about 1500 yards range, and with but a few minutes to go before firing torpedoes, I had a long and careful look at the target: the submarine was Italian. She was also flying her ensign and had an unusually large number of chaps on her bridge, whom I could clearly see were gazing north-west and, no doubt, at their beloved country a few miles away. With that bunch on the bridge, she was hardly in a position to do a quick dive ... We would try to stop her, then board her. By chance, Whittons great friend and the flotillas spare C.O., Lieutenant ôShaverö Swanston, happened to be along for the ride. Whitton now appointed him commander of the boarding party, with orders to take over the Italian submarine. Unshaken surfaced and fired a warning shot across the U-boats bows: There were even more chaps on the bridge than before; I suppose they had come up to see what the hell was coming next. By this time Unshaken was alongside, stopped, with our bows against the Italians bow. The boarding party, led by Shaver brandishing a .45 were jumping across. They raced along the forward casing and climbed up the enemys conning tower. The objective: to secure the conning tower hatch and so stop him diving, then to subdue any further resistance. But there was no resistance. The enemy C.O. wanted to go to Brindisi; Whitton wanted to go back to Malta. A somewhat heated exchange followed, Whitton writes, as the two COs, each on his own bridge, side by side, voiced their intentions: Brindisi, he shouted. Malta, I yelled. Brindisi ... Malta ... Percy Westmacott, the Number One, passed up Whittons uniform cap, to give proceedings a little more dignity. I put it on. Also the 3-inch gun, still manned, and ready for action, was ordered: Load one round HE. The loading number, a seaman with considerable initiative, held up the 3-inch high explosive shell; he displayed it, rather like a music hall conjuror, to a very impressed Italian audience. He then slipped the round home into the gun, slamming the breech shut. The muzzle of the gun was trained on the Italian captains stomach, at a range of about thirteen feet. Shaver, who was standing close to him, was requested to stand aside. With a shrug of his shoulder and hands in the air, the Italian agreed: Malta. We were both now singing from the same song sheet - and I dont think my cap did the trick. With Shaver Swanston and the boarding party in control, the Italian boat, Menotti, would sail for Malta. Four Italian hostages were kept in Unshaken to encourage their shipmates to behave. Now began the two-day passage for Malta, mainly on the surface so that Unshaken could keep an eye on her charge. Each evening the two submarines closed while Whitton made sure all was well. Swanston complained at the dirt and lack of discipline, but he evidently had no problems with the officers who roundly expressed their loathing of the Germans in particular and the war in general. Menottis captain later told Whitton: He had no orders to proceed to an Allied port, except a signal which he considered false, the Allies having made use of captured Italian cyphers. He was upset at being defeated; he loathed the Germans but did not mind surrendering to the British. Unshaken, with her prize, arrived back at Malta on 11 September, as Whitton says, to pass through an impressive collection of Italian naval ships anchored off the Grand Harbour. That afternoon Unshakens CO was handed what must be one of the most unusual receipts noted in history. Typed on HMSO crown-embossed paper by the Lazaretto type-writer, it was addressed to His Majestys Submarine Unshaken and dated Saturday 11 September 1943. Signed by George Phillips as Captain (S) 10, it read: Received from Lieutenant J. Whitton, R.N., one Italian submarine named Menotti and sixty-one crew. As a result of this, and other actions, Whitton and his ôJimmy the Oneö, Westmacott, were awarded D.S.Cs, three ratings D.S.Ms and several crew members mentioned in despatches. Evans received his D.S.M. at a Buckingham Palace investiture held on 31 October 1944; also see Lot 487 for his fathers Honours & Awards.
Lot 373
A rare Memorial Plaque and Scroll posthumously awarded to Able Seaman Edward Henry Coase, Royal Navy, who was killed in the H.M.S. Glowworm explosion on the Dvina River, 25 August 1919 Memorial Plaque 1914-18 (Edward Henry Coase) with associated slip in card envelope; together with Memorial Scroll, medal extremely fine £120-160 Edward Henry Coase was born in Devonport, Devon, on 5 October 1896. He enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 28 March 1912 and was advanced to Boy 1st Class in August the same year. He entered the war serving on the battleship Centurion, on which he was promoted to Ordinary Seaman in October 1914 and Able Seaman in June 1915. He then served at Vivid I, November 1915-July 1916, before joining the gunboat Glowworm, based on Halcyon, July 1916-September 1918; Pembroke II, October 1918; Monitor 25, October 1918-May 1919, and Fox, June 1919-August 1919. Able Seaman Coase was killed on 25 August 1919 as a result of the blowing up of an ammunition lighter. On the night of 25 August 1919, the gunboats Glowworm and Cockchafer were proceeding down the Dvina River to relieve Cricket and Cicala as part of the advance guard on R.N. gunboats operating on the Dvina. As the Glowworm and Cockchafer neared Bereznik the watch on the Glowworm spotted a barge on fire mid river. The Mercantile Marine Reserve and Russian crew of Army barge NT326 ôEdinburghö had raked out the galley fire as usual before heading to their hammocks for the night. Closer to midnight two of the crew awoke to find the aft cabin ablaze. Unable to stem the flames some of the crew fled the barge in a small boat. The crew of the barge had good reason to flee the inferno as they knew what Commander Green onboard Glowworm did not, that the barge was being used to transport ammunition and was loaded with 70 tons of explosive. As Commander Green brought the Glowworm alongside, nose towards the blazing barge, the crew of the gunboat rushed with hoses to fire-stations on the fore-deck in preparation to put out the conflagration. Many of Glowworms crew not involved in fighting the fire crowded the fore-deck to watch the brilliant bonfire before them. As the crew of Glowworm began to fight the fire, the Cockchafer, some distance away, began to manoeuvre to approach the barge from another direction. A crowd had gathered ashore of men watching the spectacle. As the crowd watched in horror a huge wall of flame rose into the calm night sky. Soon after there was another explosion and several smaller ones after that. It is unknown how many of Glowworms crew died in the initial explosions but it now must have been apparent to Commander Green that he had brought his ship alongside a blazing ammunition barge. A few minutes later an enormous flash blanketed the countryside. Seconds later the deafening roar and shock wave of the explosion ripped through air sending debris up to a mile away. Slowly as those ashore began to regain their senses, hastily cobbled together rescue teams began to make their way towards Glowworm in whatever vessel they could find. As the rescue teams boarded Glowworm they could not believe the devastation that awaited them. The entire superstructure seemed to be scorched and bent, debris and what remained of the bodies of the crew lay everywhere. The fore-deck had suffered the most damage being closest to the explosion. All of the fire-fighting crews had been wiped out whilst manning their hoses. As rescuers came across wounded sailors they carried them to the relatively undamaged after-deck and lay them in rows for the medical staff to attend to. Commander Green was found on the bridge mortally wounded, surrounded by the bodies of other officers and sailors who had been killed outright in the explosion. He was evacuated to the hospital barge which moored alongside the smoking Glowworm but did not regain consciousness and died an hour later. In the meantime Cockchafer, under Commander Preston Thomas, had come to her stricken sister ships aid. She lit the ship with her searchlights to aid the rescue efforts whilst coming alongside. From the bridge of Cockchafer, Commander Thomas directed the rescue crews through a megaphone. The following day the full scale of the tragedy became apparent. Onboard Glowworm, 23 officers and men had been killed, and another 15 had been wounded. Additionally two M.M.R. men and two Russian seamen onboard a nearby ammunition barge had been killed by flying debris and three other M.M.R. men wounded. It was the largest single day loss of life suffered by the Royal Navy in North Russia 1918-19. The damage to Glowworm was significant. She was towed back to Archangel to be refitted and repaired and was able to make her way back to England under her own steam, but she was too worn out to continue service and was paid off almost as soon as she arrived back at Chatham on 18 November 1919 and was eventually scrapped in 1921. With copied service papers and research.
Lot 775
A Chinese blue and white export plate simply painted with flower forms within double line border and blue line rim, etched and stamped with character marks to well and to underside, 19cm diameter; together with a Japanese saucer dish, painted with flowers and masks and scale ground, 21cm diameter.
Lot 70
A PAIR OF SITZENDORF PORCELAIN FIGURAL CANDLESTICKS, allegorical of Summer and Autumn, and modelled as pairs of scantily draped children, with a sheaf of corn and basket of flowers, and a goblet and bowl of fruits, with flower encrusted rococo scroll sticks on gilt scale and pink and blue scroll bases, marked in blue, 12" high
Lot 224J
A Fine French Wall Barometer. The case veneered in diagonally grained kingwood veneers enriched with gilt bronze Rococo mounts cast with scrolls of crested foliage and incorporating a thermometer with hand painted scale and barometer dial inscribed Barométre selon Toricelly. 45 ins (115 cms) in height.
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